1) The retail box at the stores in August is the 1.0 version.  We are working on a 1.01 version which has enhanced multiplayer features and a saved game manager.  So if you see people talking about 1.01, they're using a version that is only available via Stardock Central to TotalGaming.net players and those who pre-ordered it. Don't sweat it, it'll be available to everyone shortly and there aren't any significant differences between them.

2) If you get a "Display Cannot be found" type error there are only two possible reasons we know for this.  1) Your video card isn't able to handle 32bit mode (some older video cards for instance).  Or 2) You're running a different version of DirectX than the game is expecting and in that event, take the safe route and download the latest DirectX from http://www.microsoft.com/directx (9.0c right now).

3) We have had reports that Service Pack 2 is causing some people graphical pain.  We are looking into this.  Our advice would be to wait a bit on SP2 as we're seeing a LOT of problems with a lot of products across the board with SP2. We'll be making adjustments to the game to ensure SP2 compatibility but it won't happen instantly.

4) IF you happen to get a crash to desktop for some reason check the debug.err file in your game directory to see if something is messed up. Installations, particularly on-line installations, sometimes have a corrupted file (sometimes as in very rarely).  If you still get a crash to desktop problem, you'll want to get Stardock Smart Exception. If you have Stardock Central, just click on the "free stuff" icon and install Smart Exception.  Otherwise you can get it at: http://storage.stardock.com/files/smartexception.exe

5) A demo version of the game should be out in the next couple of weeks. We want to button up the final 1.01 release and make that generally available to all players and then the demo should be out shortly afterwards.

6) The game should be at most retail outlets within the next week.

7) The version that we sell at PoliticalMachine.com ($29.99) is $10 more than the retail version but includes the Operatives Kit which is a way to add your own issues and TV interviewer questions.  There will be a $10 upgrade path for those users who want to get it as soon as things calm down a bit from the initial launch.

8) Yes, you can put your own pictures in for candidate pictures. They're just small PNG files (128x128 I think) thrown into the candidate images directory.

9) Make sure you have the LATEST video drivers.  Yea, everyone always says they have the latest video drivers and then after back and forth in email it's often found that no, they didn't. Thankfully DOOM 3 just came out and lots of people got the newest ATI and nVidia drivers. Trust us, they can make all kinds of weird things go away. Not just in this game but for all kinds of games.

10) You need a video card with at least 16 megs of RAM to play the game. While the map is 2D, the game is using a 3D engine. You can play the game on a very low end setup as long as your video card has 16 megs of RAM and can do 32bit color in Direct3D.